How to do Bloomoo horizontal menu?

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Godofbeer

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Apr 20, 2010, 8:16:17 AM4/20/10
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Your implementation of a horizontal menu on the http://www.bluemoo.co.nz/
site is cool and I've been trying to figure out how you did it.

I found a horizontal menu approach for Google sites at:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sites/thread?tid=7692deb01abbe686&hl=en
http://sites.google.com/site/mori79/html-gadgets/how-tos/navigation-menus

However, I can't figure out how to force them UP into the header area.
I'm guessing that the approach is similar to what you did for your
sparkel template in that after disabling the header, the first line of
the template then rides up at the topmost screen area (like a header).

As far as the topmost header image (or whatever it's called now) is
concerned, it looks like you've inverted the Blue Buzz image file and
added a horizontal gray top stripe.

Would appreciate it if you'd share the secret recipe with us.
Horizontal menus are the 'holy grail' of Google sites and I'd rather
start out with a step in the right direction, than guessing.

W.

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avaireka

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Apr 20, 2010, 5:55:00 PM4/20/10
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Haha there's no "secret recipe" it's really just putting things where
you want them and making them "look" like they belong there. Thus
creating work-arounds for googlesites restrictions.

But you pretty much guessed it off the bat, it's all an optical
illusion.

As for the menu buttons, they are coded into the html, so they're hard
linked. Transparent png's are your friend... unless you're still using
IE6, then they're a pain in the ass.

Hope I answered your question without actually answering your
question. lol.

On Apr 21, 12:16 am, Godofbeer <dag.rem...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Your implementation of a horizontal menu on thehttp://www.bluemoo.co.nz/
> site is cool and I've been trying to figure out how you did it.
>
> I found a horizontal menu approach for Google sites at:http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sites/thread?tid=7692deb01abbe6...http://sites.google.com/site/mori79/html-gadgets/how-tos/navigation-m...

maoski

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Apr 20, 2010, 7:09:34 PM4/20/10
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yup, its all just an illusion, in bluemoo, the whole banner, menu etc
is actually sitting within the content areas of google sites, the
background gives the illusion that they are sitting in the header
area. The menu are just images sitting side by side. A tip is when you
insert the images for the menu, is to strip the code that google adds,
its code that opens the image in its own page. Strip that code and
then add you links to any pages you create. Remember this has to be
done manually, so when you add a new page to the top navigation a new
menu item needs to be added. planning is the key. have fun :)

On Apr 21, 9:55 am, avaireka <avair...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Haha there's no "secret recipe" it's really just putting things where
> you want them and making them "look" like they belong there. Thus
> creating work-arounds for googlesites restrictions.
>
> But you pretty much guessed it off the bat, it's all an optical
> illusion.
>
> As for the menu buttons, they are coded into the html, so they're hard
> linked. Transparent png's are your friend... unless you're still using
> IE6, then they're a pain in the ass.
>
> Hope I answered your question without actually answering your
> question. lol.
>
> On Apr 21, 12:16 am, Godofbeer <dag.rem...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Your implementation of a horizontal menu on thehttp://www.bluemoo.co.nz/
> > site is cool and I've been trying to figure out how you did it.
>
> > I found a horizontal menu approach for Google sites at:http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/sites/thread?tid=7692deb01abbe6......
>
> > However, I can't figure out how to force them UP into the header area.
> > I'm guessing that the approach is similar to what you did for your
> > sparkel template in that after disabling the header, the first line of
> > the template then rides up at the topmost screen area (like a header).
>
> > As far as the topmost header image (or whatever it's called now) is
> > concerned, it looks like you've inverted the Blue Buzz image file and
> > added a horizontal gray top stripe.
>
> > Would appreciate it if you'd share the secret recipe with us.
> > Horizontal menus are the 'holy grail' of Google sites and I'd rather
> > start out with a step in the right direction, than guessing.
>
> > W.
>
> > --
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>
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> - Show quoted text -

Godofbeer

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Apr 21, 2010, 1:39:37 AM4/21/10
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Thanks maoski and avaireka:

Got it all figured out! I had no idea you could do that sort of thing
with embedded HTML code. I never would have figured that out on my
own.
Since the coding aspect of each page is a pain, I made an master page
and then created a template based on it. When new pages are needed,
they can easily be created from the template.

A few things to fine tune, but WOW, am I ever impressed with the
results, and thankful for the advice.

W.
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> > - Show quoted text -
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Godofbeer

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Apr 21, 2010, 11:59:53 AM4/21/10
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Easier (and more reliable?) horizontal menu tips.

Last night at 2AM, my test site menu was rock solid. This morning, I
had issues with missing menu grafx and even 403 errors when trying to
access the images in other browsers. Might not be a big deal and just
a temporary Google hosting issue, but it led me to find an alternative
worth sharing.

By following the instructions on the site below, I was able to create
a text based mouse-over menu gadget that sits in the exact same spot
as your Bluemoo image driven menu. It is actually only a single text
XML file that sits in the site's Google docs area.

http://sites.google.com/site/mori79/html-gadgets/how-tos/navigation-menus

Here's a link to the test site (subject to change without notice). The
second page in (ABOUT) is the only one left using the image menu and
over a period of several hours, varying link images will appear and
then disappear. On the other hand, the new text menu never fails
(yet).

http://sites.google.com/a/what2no.com/blue/home

The only drag is that each time I time I need to edit the menu.xml
file, I have to upload it to Google docs and then change the url to
the gadget on each page. I wish I could crack the code on how to link
to an actual file name in the sites. Then, each time I uploaded
changes, the entire site would be good-to-go. But, Google won't let me
edit the XML file in Docs, and the XML file URL I see when I drill
down to the file is extremely long and not even close to the actual
site name. But it works when pasted into the gadget url field.

Does anyone know how to link to a file using a site-friendly URL (i.e.
http://sites.google.com/a/sitename/site/docs-folder/ACTUAL OBJECT
NAME)?

W.
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maoski

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Apr 21, 2010, 1:47:38 PM4/21/10
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mmm? never had 403 issues, missing images before. that menu of moris
is awesome, the only downside for me is that its inaccessible, because
its wrapped in a frame. (try tabbing across your links). Submitting a
sitemap might sort out that issue for search engines, well at least
google :) Good on you for experimenting.

On Apr 22, 3:59 am, Godofbeer <dag.rem...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Easier (and more reliable?) horizontal menu tips.
>
> Last night at 2AM, my test site menu was rock solid. This morning, I
> had issues with missing menu grafx and even 403 errors when trying to
> access the images in other browsers. Might not be a big deal and just
> a temporary Google hosting issue, but it led me to find an alternative
> worth sharing.
>
> By following the instructions on the site below, I was able to create
> a text based mouse-over menu gadget that sits in the exact same spot
> as your Bluemoo image driven menu. It is actually only a single text
> XML file that sits in the site's Google docs area.
>
> http://sites.google.com/site/mori79/html-gadgets/how-tos/navigation-m...
> > > > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/getheme?hl=en-GB.-Hidequotedtext -

maoski

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Apr 21, 2010, 1:48:58 PM4/21/10
to gethe.me
it might be better to host the xml in file attachements maybe?

On Apr 22, 3:59 am, Godofbeer <dag.rem...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Easier (and more reliable?) horizontal menu tips.
>
> Last night at 2AM, my test site menu was rock solid. This morning, I
> had issues with missing menu grafx and even 403 errors when trying to
> access the images in other browsers. Might not be a big deal and just
> a temporary Google hosting issue, but it led me to find an alternative
> worth sharing.
>
> By following the instructions on the site below, I was able to create
> a text based mouse-over menu gadget that sits in the exact same spot
> as your Bluemoo image driven menu. It is actually only a single text
> XML file that sits in the site's Google docs area.
>
> http://sites.google.com/site/mori79/html-gadgets/how-tos/navigation-m...
> > > > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/getheme?hl=en-GB.-Hidequotedtext -

Godofbeer

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Apr 21, 2010, 2:20:20 PM4/21/10
to gethe.me
Attachments worked! Thanks for the tip, the attachment manager section
permits a 'replace' function that leaves the original URL alone. Will
sort out the details later.

Not sure what you meant in your earlier post when you said:

"... its inaccessible, because its wrapped in a frame. (try tabbing
across your links) ..."

1.) By inaccessible, do you mean you're using a browser that can't
actually see the menu? Or, are you tying this statement to the search
engine statement that follows?
2.) What do you mean by "tabbing across the links"? Do you mean you're
actually using the keyboard tab key? Or do you mean trying to open new
browser tabs using the embedded menu option links?

Good call on the search engine issue - didn't work thru the impact as
a result of the links not actually being on the page. Was too busy
thinking about the aesthetics. Makes sense to add a site map page as
a main menu option. Maybe even have to consider a small left/right
side Google sites generated nav bar - yech. Defeats the whole purpose
of a horizontal top menu.

W.
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maoski

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Apr 21, 2010, 5:56:00 PM4/21/10
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yup if you try tabbing across all your links with the tab button it
totally skips the menu meaning they are inaccessible to users with
disabilities and most cases search engines. Trying to open the menu
links within a new tab has the same effect. Theres no way around this
when using frames unfortunately although i havn't looked any deeper.
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maoski

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Apr 21, 2010, 10:49:05 PM4/21/10
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godofbeer, are you hosting the menu images in the attachments folder
it looks like they are stored in docs, maybe thats why they keep
disapearing?
> ...
>
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Godofbeer

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Apr 21, 2010, 10:58:02 PM4/21/10
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Yes, I was using Docs. But, it was working so good for hours and
hours. Then this morning - FAIL. Am trying to figure out the
differences between Docs storage and Attachment storage in terms of
pros/cons and functionality. One of the reasons I was leaning towards
using Google sites was to get away from all the endless fussing and
tweaking that a published site carries.

Too early to tell if I'm creating an easy to manage site, or a high-
maintenance hassle. Not giving up yet!

Thanks again for your help,

W.
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